Irvington shortstop Mark Mathias hit .407 as a junior and followed it up with a solid summer playing on the circuit. As a solid bat with good defensive work in the infield, he drew interest from numerous West Coast programs before committing to the Mustangs last month.

The 6-foot, 190 pound Mathias verbally committed to Cal Poly on August 27, 2011, after also receiving interest from UC Santa Barbara, San Jose State and San Francisco.

"I liked the coaches and I liked the area, the campus and facilities," Mathias said of choosing Cal Poly. He has visited San Luis Obispo twice for a camp and a campus tour.

Mathias had a busy summer in playing in the 17U WWBA national tournament in Georgia as well as the Area Code games for the Oakland A's in Long Beach. He also played for Headfirst Bercovich in Connie Mack and California Club Baseball and participated in the Rawlings NorCal World Series and the Bay Area World Series.

"The Area Codes were a big stage for me to be around a lot of good players," Mathias said. "It was one of the best competitions in which I have ever been."

He is the first known NorCal commit to Cal Poly for the 2012 class and could be a nice building block going forward for a team which went 27-26 last year.

"Mark is such a great competitor and tremendous athlete. He is the type of player that rises his game up in big game situations," CCB director Erick Raich said in an email. "He has a chance to come into the Cal Poly program and make an impact immediately as their shortstop of the future and potentially on the mound also."

When asked what he brings to the field defensively, Mathias said, "Range, good arm, good back hand, good (quick) hands."